User blog:JohnnyOTGS/JohnnyTalk World~The unsung War Veteran: Duct Tape
Hello everybody and welcome to another edition of JohnnyTalk World. As you may know, it's Veteran's Day, a day where we honor those who fought in wars through history and in modern times. But, I'm here to talk about a little known war veteran, something that helped the "human" war veterans. I am here to talk about, Duct Tape. The magnificent tape As you may already know that Duct Tape is a multi-use tool for modern households as it's used to seal up leaky drainpipes or to hold onto loose electrical wires and chords and other things like that. But what you may not know that it had a military background, and its background goes back to World War 2. During this time, it wasn't known as "Duct Tape" but "Duck Tape". And no, it has nothing to do with actual Ducks, it was named as such because of the Canvas Cloth it was made out of which was known as "Duck Cloth" (an old way to repair shoes) which added to the durability of the tape and gave it it's high level of reliability, and it didn't come in it's iconic "Shiny Silver Color" either, but the military-grade "Olive Green Drab Color". "Duck Tape" was made by a division of the company Johnson & Johnson known as the Revolite Company, and US Soldiers would use it to repair almost anything ranging from sealing bullet holes in Jeeps and repairing their windows to sealing Ammo Boxes and Fuel Tanks and was even used as makeshift band-aids and casts for injured soldiers. The Soldiers would give it nicknames such as "Rigorous Tape" "Hurricane Tape" and "100 MPH Tape" due to it's incredible durability to high-velocity winds that the vehicles created when in motion. It was also waterproof and protected the soldiers' provisions such as food and some forms of ammunition. After the war, the tape was then used commercially as it was mostly used to repair damaged heating and air-conditioning systems in modern buildings (modern as in 1940 and 50s standards) and that is when the tape was then re-named "Duct Tape" and got its iconic shiny silver color. Re-Called to action In the 1960s, Duct Tape was re-called to action when the Vietnam War began, and again Duct tape was used for all kinds of things, apart from what it did for Soldiers and Vehicles, it was also used by Soldiers for their ammo magazines as they would tape 2 magazines together for quicker reloads (this was known as the "Jungle Magazine") they would also use Duct tape to tape their dog tags together so that they wouldn't make a jingling sound which could potentially give away their platoon's position to the enemy. But perhaps it's most important role is to provide a temporary solution to damaged rotor blades on helicopters, oftentimes American Helicopters would touch down in LZs (Landing Zones) which were hostile to US Forces, putting the Helicopter in potential danger and if the blades get shot by enemy fire, the bullet holes would not only make a very loud whistling noise but would also affect the Helicopter's control and aerodynamic integrity. This was proven in 1965 during Operation: Rolling Thunder when pilots with 2 HH-43 Helicopters (Bandi 95 and Bandi 96) were sent in to rescue Pilots that were shot down by the NVA Forces (known derogatorily as the Viet Cong) who were very successful at shooting down high-speed Jet fighters (such as the F-100 Super Saber and the F-4 Phantom) and they thought that they would be easier targets as they were flying slower-moving Helicopters and needed support fire, under heavy fire they were able to rescue the surviving pilots and then making the nearly 3-hour trip back to Quan Khe in South Vietnam, but then they were beginning to hear a loud whistling noise, as they stop to re-fuel they noticed that the rotor blades took some enemy fire, they sealed the bullet holes by using Duct Tape and then head back to Da Nang, but parts of the Duct tape began to wad up and was making a distinctive rattling noise, this is where the HH-43 Helicopters had to land halfway into their trip and be evacuated by a Marine Helicopter. It's most recent military history was during Operation: Desert Storm where the abrasive Desert Soil would wear away the paint lining on the rotor blades of Helicopters, this is when Helicopter pilots would repair the rotor blades with Duct Tape. Other uses Duct tape was also used in NASA missions, and ever since Project: Gemini it became mandatory for all Space mIssions to have a roll of Duct Tape on board their space capsules and shuttles. This proved crucial in 1973 during the doomed Apollo 13 mission when James Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert's space capsule (named the Aquarius) had a damaged Carbon Dioxide Filter, and the crew had to repair it themselves, they repaired it using Duct Tape. Well, that's all for this edition of JohnnyTalk World. Don't forget to check out my other wiki pages as well as checking out my Games and Movies wiki as well. Until next time, this is JohnnyOTGS signing out. Category:Blog posts